Carmen Vitali
NFL reporter
Week 3, again, was not the result the Chicago Bears and Caleb Williams wanted.
This is not the column I wanted to write anymore.
But it should Bear and this team if you are a Chicago fan.
First, you don’t really have a choice. Much has been made about the additions made to the roster but somehow, not enough attention is given to the fact that the offense is almost entirely new, including the offensive coordinator.
A frustrating watch. There is no way around that. The unit with the most continuity — the offensive line — doesn’t look like that. The Bears can’t find a way to run the ball well or get their backs involved (Chicago averaged just 2.3 yards per carry against a Colts team that has been giving up the game. average of 237 rushing yards per game). But if you were expecting this to show up in Week 3 or any time before the halfway point of the season, that’s on you.
Shane Waldron is apparently going through a baptism of fire with Williams. They put a lot of the burden on the rookie’s shoulders in the form of early decisions and diagnoses. That’s why you see the game clock ticking down to almost zero so often. That’s why you see some mistakes at times with running backs and miscommunication along the line of scrimmage. Williams is putting defenses on defenses that he has never seen before.
The play calls don’t help Williams either. Williams finished 33 of 52 for 363 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions in Sunday’s 21-16 loss to the Colts. Asking your rookie quarterback to throw the ball 52 times is not the answer to your immediate woes. There are other ways to get your backfield involved than just giving the ball away from the middle.
That said, there was one bright spot on the drive that preceded Williams’ first NFL touchdown in the fourth quarter, however. It was a 13-play drive, with nine pass attempts and four rushes on offense. Williams’ pass attempts went short distances and were quick decisions. He didn’t have to stay in the pocket and go full forward. Williams moved the offense down the field, drove the pressure to give the defender a chance to breathe and closed it by hooking up with Rome Odunze, one of six touchdowns on a day when Odunze went for 100 yards for the first time in his NFL career. work. That relationship, in particular, seems to be blossoming.
But that well-balanced, multi-concept drive, using multiple offensive weapons, was the Bears’ best of the afternoon. The fact that drives like this ended in points is no coincidence. That drive is what this action should look like at all times. It has the potential to do that if both Waldron and Williams can hold their own. Yes, Williams has a big-time arm, but there’s no reason that on third-and-4, Williams needs to pull it off. Your receivers rarely hit their people directly. This is the NFL. The talent pool is level and NFL defenses can sniff out a play like that and account for it better than college offenses.
Williams is still learning that. That is clear from some of the decisions he made, putting the ball in coverage twice. He was saved by penalties and drops in many games, until he wasn’t. The two moves ruined Williams’ stat sheet before he was able to add two touchdowns to it.
The Bears bet on Williams coming out of the other side of the fire, though. Otherwise they are stubborn. And perhaps both sentiments can be true. But we still need to give Williams a chance to do just that. A sample size of three games is not enough for the enemy to look at to prepare a gameplan. Teams review a minimum of four games in a team before they feel they have enough analysis for it. Surely fans can give Williams and the Bears offense that much.
Colts’ Tyquan Lewis pressures Bears QB Caleb Williams during Sunday’s Week 3 contest. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
I know Bears fans are impatient. They have more right than anyone to be concerned and jump to judgment given the team’s history with the offense and the quarterbacks, in particular. But you can’t hold the sins of extreme states against the current one, especially this early.
I’ll make you all a deal, I say. If by the time the Bears open the playoffs in Week 10 things still look this bad, I’ll drink from the Chalice of Hate. But until then, I’ll be realistic, like I’ve been all season. This will take time and it is not enough for us to make any conclusions about what this team will be. That should make Bears fans feel better, if anything.
Carmen Vitali is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, adding the title of Super Bowl Champion (and showboating participant) to his resume. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.
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